Spain to scrap golden visa scheme

The visa, introduced in 2013, offers foreign nationals a fast track to residency if they purchase a property in the country worth at least €500,000.

Additionally, residency is also granted under the scheme if applicants invest €2 million or more in public debt securities, or €1 million in stocks and shares for Spanish companies. Figures from Transparency International suggest that in the scheme’s first 10 years (2013 – 23), a total of 6,200 visas were granted for property investment.

Just under two thirds of the scheme’s beneficiaries came from three countries: China (2,712), Russia (1,159), and Iran (203). A further 179 visas were granted to US citizens, and 177 to Britons.

The scheme was intended to drum up foreign investment in the wake of the post-2009 European debt crisis, which heavily impacted the country’s property sector. However, the scheme ultimately only attracted investments to already-expensive areas.

In a statement, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said that the housing market in areas commonly invested in under the scheme is “under enormous pressure”, leading their inhabitants to struggle in finding “affordable housing”.

He added that the scrapping of the visa scheme was intended to “guarantee that housing is a right, and not merely the subject of business speculation”.

Australia announced the end of its own golden visa programme earlier this year, in favour of more high-skilled worker visas.